5 Unconventional Beauty Tricks That Actually Work

Get smart fixes for beauty problems with these easy-to-do solutions

Nov 3, 2011

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Article from Weird Beauty Tricks, by Miriam Lacey of BellaSugar

There's a lot of quirky beauty advice out there, but it can be hard to tell which tips are smart and which ones are just kinda weird. The following five tips may seem a little beyond the norm, but they actually do work, and they're either free or very, very cheap to boot. To see them, just keep reading.

1. Spray starch for hair styling. As in the stuff you use to keep shirt collars nice and stiff. Ever wondered how stylists kept those flippy '50s ponytails so perfect? It was a light spritzing of laundry starch on ends before curling. It still works wonders if you need something more powerful than hair spray.

2. Tea bags to repair damaged nails. If you break a nail while you're out and need some manicure triage, just cut out a bit of the filter from a tea bag and use any adhesive you have to glue it under your nail.

3. Almonds as eyeliner. If you've always loved the idea of wearing natural makeup, this is a fun one to try. Light an almond on fire, let it burn, and then gather the soot to use as powder eyeliner. The almond oil makes the ashes "sticky" so it stays on your lash line, and the color you'll get is a really pretty, intense black.

4. Baking soda to fix self-tanner streaks. If your self-tanner came out uneven, don't panic. Instead, grab that box of baking soda from your fridge, and give yourself a good exfoliation. You'll be surprised by how much more gentle and effective it is than using a scrub.

5. Freeze (or burn) your eyeliner. Got eyeliner that always crumbles or falls off the pencil when you apply it? Just pop it in your freezer for half an hour to harden it up for better application. If, on the other hand, your eyeliner formula is too hard, just hold it over a lighter for a second. It'll soften it up so that you can apply it more easily, and, when it cools down, it'll stay just as well.

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